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#113: Such Was Railroading [the Castle Shannon Railway War]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Release Date: 05/19/2025

#114: Unhuman Animals [Pennsylvania's anti-cartoon bills of 1903] show art #114: Unhuman Animals [Pennsylvania's anti-cartoon bills of 1903]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

In 1903 Pennsylvania found the recipe for disaster: two of the greatest political cartoonists of the day, and an easily caricatured governor with no sense of humor. Their battle went to some...u unexpected places. Key sources for this episode include... Stephen Piott's "The Right of the Cartoonist: Samuel Pennypacker and the Freedom of the Press," contemporary newspaper reports... and that's it. Almost every other source I found either did not go into any detail about the act, or got the specifics so very wrong (like confusing the Pusey and Salus-Grady bills) to the point where I had to doubt...

info_outline #113: Such Was Railroading [the Castle Shannon Railway War] show art #113: Such Was Railroading [the Castle Shannon Railway War]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Milton D. Hays had two things: a dream of a railroad linking Pittsburgh to the coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania, and a lack of ethics that would allow him to realize that dream. This is the story of the Castle Shannon Railway War. Key sources for this episode include contemporary newspaper reports; the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, Brookline Connection, and Carrick-Overbrook Historical Society web sites; and N.A. Critchett's fantastic (and highly inaccurate) "Double Gauge." The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to the idea that that which...

info_outline #112: There Must Come a Change [Octavius Valentine Catto] show art #112: There Must Come a Change [Octavius Valentine Catto]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Octavius Valentine Catto was truly a man for all seasons: scholar, activist, politician, baseball star. He could have been the inspiring black leader Reconstruction-era Philadelphia needed... if he hadn't been murdered. Key sources for this episode include Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin's Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America; Joe William Trotter Jr and Eric Ledell Smith's African Americans in Pennsylvania: Shifting Historical Perspectives; Michael E. Lomax's Black Baseball Entrepreneurs: 1860-1901: Operating by Any Means Necessary; Ryan A. Swanson's...

info_outline #111: Samozvantsy [false Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles] show art #111: Samozvantsy [false Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

The Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich died from an accidental self-inflicted knife wound in 1591... but that didn't stop him from popping up to try and reclaim his throne in 1604. And 1607. And 1611. And 1612. And... Key sources for this episode include Chester S.L. Dunning's Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Romanov Dynasty; Maureen Perrie's Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia: The False Tsars of the Time of Troubles; Paul Avrich's Russian Rebels, 1600-1800; and Peter Julicher's Renegades, Rebels and Rogues Under the Tsars. Special thanks to Kristen...

info_outline #110: The Choice of the Next Generation [the Cola Wars in space] show art #110: The Choice of the Next Generation [the Cola Wars in space]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

War! The balance of power in the Cola Wars has been shifting for years. In a stunning move, Coke has swept into NASA and is about to send its signature beverage into orbit... but not if the underdogs at Pepsi have anything to say about it... Key sources for this episode include Charles T. Bourland and Gregory L. Vogt's The Astronaut's Cookbook; David H. Harland's The Story of the Space Shuttle; Tony Reichart's Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years; numerous patent applications; and contemporary newspaper reports. I'll be presenting at the Intelligent Speech conference on February 8, 2025!...

info_outline #109: The Number of the Stars [are there actually twelve planets?] show art #109: The Number of the Stars [are there actually twelve planets?]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

New Age types keep saying that there are twelve planets. Where does that number come from, and what are these three extra planets supposed to be? (Plus: a detour to the world of ancient astronauts.) Key sources for this episode include Gottfried de Purucker's Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy and The Fountain-Source of Occultism; Govert Schilling's The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto; Maureen Temple Richmond's "The Threefold Rulership System in Esoteric Astrology"; Michael Heiser's website ; and the collected works of Zecharia Sitchin. This week we're promoting...

info_outline #108: Your Eyebrows Will Grow Back [Richard Timewell's Space Ranger] presented by #42 show art #108: Your Eyebrows Will Grow Back [Richard Timewell's Space Ranger] presented by #42

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Everybody always asks, "If this is the future, where's my jetpack?" but only Richard Timewell was bold enough to do something about it. And by "do something" I mean "sell jetpacks through the mail." Presented by #42 (Alex Baumans): Pathologically interested in anything unusual and obscure. Closet goth, armchair general and amateur theologian. Favorite animals are ducks, octopodes and pigs. You will also find me surprisingly knowledgable about K-Pop girl groups. Key sources for this episode include contemporary newspaper reports, with some added material from the Secret Projects forum. ...

info_outline #107: Deeply Impressed [Helen Duncan goes on trial] show art #107: Deeply Impressed [Helen Duncan goes on trial]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Helen Duncan was the last person persecuted in Britain for being a witch. Except she wasn't the last, she wasn't a witch, and she wasn't exactly persecuted either... Key sources for this episode include  C.E. Bechhofer Roberts' The Trial of Mrs. Duncan; Gena Brealey and Kay Hunter's The Two Worlds of Helen Duncan; Harry Price's Leaves of a Psychist's Case-Book; Marion Gibson's Witchcraft: A Story in Thirteen Trials; Paul Tabori's Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghost Hunter; Ruth Paley and Simon Fowler's Family Skeletons: Exploring the Lives of Our Disreputable Ancestors; and...

info_outline #106: Cloud Dongs [George Gray Barnard's Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups] show art #106: Cloud Dongs [George Gray Barnard's Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

George Gray Barnard's sculptures have been installed in front of the Pennsylvania State Capitol since 1911... but the story of their creation is a long and tortured one, featuring the strangest act of self-censorship you'll ever see. Key sources for this episode include Dan Williams' "George Grey Barnard"; Ingrid Steffensen's "Toward an Iconography of a State Capitol: The Art and Architecture of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg"; Ruth Hoover Seitz's Pennsylvania's Capitol; Samuel W. Pennypacker's The Desecration and Profanation of the Pennsylvania Capitol; the catalog of...

info_outline #105: Wild Frantics [the Sanctified Band of Chincoteague Island] show art #105: Wild Frantics [the Sanctified Band of Chincoteague Island]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

The Sanctified Band was driven from their homes on Chincoteague Island, forced to live in floating arks, and persecuted up and down the Eastern Seaboard... and all they really wanted was freedom to worship as they pleased. Key sources for this episode include Harry J. Collins, Jr. and Floyd L. Hagan, Sr.'s History of Christ's Santified Holy Church; Kirk Mariner's Once Upon an Island: The Story of Chincoteague; Vinson Synan's The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States; and contemporary newspaper reports. This week we're promoting our friends The Apocrypals -- a podcast where two...

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Milton D. Hays had two things: a dream of a railroad linking Pittsburgh to the coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania, and a lack of ethics that would allow him to realize that dream. This is the story of the Castle Shannon Railway War.

https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/such-was-railroading

Key sources for this episode include contemporary newspaper reports; the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, Brookline Connection, and Carrick-Overbrook Historical Society web sites; and N.A. Critchett's fantastic (and highly inaccurate) "Double Gauge."

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to the idea that that which is least known is best to know. Each episode we share a strange story or amazing fact, and no topic is off limits -- if it's interesting or entertaining, we'll cover about it!